How school staff get skills to provide early help

PROJECT

Foundations for Learning

FUNDING

Around £100,000 to establish and run the programme for staff in 70 schools funded by Newham schools themselves

BACKGROUND

Last year Ofsted told schools in Newham, east London, they needed to improve support for struggling pupils and their families. Too many children were being needlessly referred to social services when their problems were at an early stage, said inspectors.

The charity School-Home Support was already supporting pupils in a handful of Newham schools and together with Newham Council was keen to explore ways of spreading its expertise to school staff. The result was a training scheme called Foundations for Learning, which has been operating in the borough since July last year.

ACTION

Participants in the training programme have a multitude of different job titles and include pastoral support workers, family outreach workers, attendance support staff and learning mentors. They are divided into groups of up to 10, according to school clusters, and receive eight fortnightly days of training.

The sessions, run by School-Home Support, aim to improve participants' skills in working with parents to help them strengthen relationships with their children, handle challenging behaviour and get involved in children's learning and development.

The group sessions are followed by 17 hours of one-to-one support and assessment over the next 12 weeks, which involves trainees building up a portfolio showing how they've applied what they've learned to their work and undergoing assessment for a City and Guilds level three in Work with Parents.

After gaining their qualification, participants stay in their groups for regular council-run networking sessions, enabling them to share tips on tackling different challenges and learn more about various issues affecting families.

"There's more emphasis on early help for children in schools, but the staff are not all trained and not all supported," says School-Home Support chief executive Jan Tallis. "We're trying to break down that loneliness factor, by bringing people together in training, delivered by very experienced and expert practitioners."

OUTCOME

Over the current academic year 82 staff from 70 schools are being trained. Feedback from about a dozen participants in the programme's third cohort shows 64 per cent reported an impact on children's attendance or attainment since starting the course in November.

Two-thirds reported an increase in the number of children and families they had worked with since embarking on the qualification. And 83 per cent said their attendance on the course had boosted their school's appreciation for working with parents.